A Different Kind of Secret
by BookReader10
Summary: Percy was always different, even by demigod standards. It's clear that he is destined for greatness, but while being secretly raised on Olympus by Apollo, the gods becomes closer to figuring out the dangerous truth, and Percy learns that he is the key to saving the world and everyone in it - but can he handle the pressure? AU.
1. A Change in Routine

Just because it's my birthday, I thought I would try posting something.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians - this applies to all the chapters in this story.

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**Chapter 1: A Change in Routine**

My mom always called me 'special' and insisted that I was 'different', not weird like what everyone at school told me.

I can tell what they are thinking when they look at me, the way they sneer when I walk by, or when they move away because my hands wont stop fidgeting at times. I _know _what they are thinking.

Yeah, okay, I get that I'm _different_.

I learned a long time ago that people were cruel. I didn't like it, but that was just the way reality was.

I sat in the corner of the cafeteria, having a strong urge to cover my ears because the sound was excruciatingly loud. The chairs screeched when someone got up, the trays banged against the desk, people chattered and yelled loudly like a bunch of wild animals. Usually, it was fine for my sensitive ears, but today the noises felt unusually loud. For a normal person, the noise would be just fine, but imagine magnifying the sound 4 times louder. That is how I would perceive the noise that everyone was making. I dropped my apple mid-bite and cupped my ears with my hands so that I blocked out the world.

I began to rock on the soles of my feet even though I knew it would get me more alienated from my peers. I swear, I don't do it a lot, but it made me remember those times my mom would sit there for hours with her arms curled around my body, rocking me when I was afraid. Usually, I disliked skin contact, but with her, everything felt okay. She says I'm too old for that now so I pretend like I don't need her to hug me anymore; like I'm never afraid.

"—ercy, hello? Percy?" someone tentatively tried to remove my hands from my ears and I instantly recoiled backwards before realising it was just Grover. You see, he's my best friend. Well, not exactly best friend I guess, but he's really nice and talks to me a lot. He also walks with a limp so in a way, we we're really similar. Not that I walked with a limp, but everyone thought we were different, so they tended to just stay away from us.

Grover bent down and picked up my half-eaten apple before placing it on the table. He re-adjusted his backpack straps and shrugged apologetically at me. "Sorry," he mumbled, knowing I preferred not to be touched much. "Class is starting soon, we better get going."

"It's um, no need to apologize." I blushed in embarrassment. I looked around the cafeteria to see that he was right. Not many people were around anymore, they seemed to have all left. Staring at the floor, I quietly thanked him, emptied my lunch tray at the garbage can and followed him out the door to our last class of the day; Latin.

You see, I live at Yancy Academy which is a boarding school. However, this isn't any normal boarding you see around New York City. No, this is a school for delinquents, unwanted children, and kids who are just really hard to take care of. Me? I fall into the category of delinquents and troublesome kids. I guess you can say that every student at Yancy Academy fit together, but not like puzzle pieces that went together perfectly. No, more like puzzle pieces that couldn't fit anywhere, so they were all crammed together to make some messed up picture that was, in the end, unrecognizable and useless.

"Percy, can you tell us the names of the older Olympians?" My Latin teacher was named Mr. Brunner, and he was one of the only teachers who didn't treat me like a troublemaker. He was one of the most exciting teachers, even though he was older than most teachers and resided in a wheelchair most days. The only problem was the class he had to teach.

I slowly looked away from the window and glanced at Mr. Brunner for a moment before moving my eyes to my fiddling fingers. I didn't really know the answer—Zeus, Damiter… or something? Fiction never really appealed to me that much, I just didn't really understand why people would delight in reading about stories that weren't _real. _

There were things that were more interesting like the sea and its inhabitants. The way dolphins could use echolocation to identify how far and what objects are surrounding them. Or the fact that more than 80% of people live within 100 km of the coast so everyone highly depends on bodies of water to supply their needs. Or perhaps the fact that...

"Percy says Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera." Grover told Mr. Brunner. I glanced at him in surprise, before giving him a small smile. It was really a nice thing of Grover to do, even though we weren't close best friends.

"Correct Mr. Jackson, though next time please speak louder." the Latin teacher directed his attention back towards the class and continued teaching.

"Prissy has to get a crippled kid to talk for him; how _pathetic._" Nancy Bobofit, the class bully sneered from the back of the class. A few kids laughed while I involuntarily flinched, though no one noticed.

I stood up from my desk and kicked my chair down; I guess half from anger and the other half from frustration. "Stop. Stop it." I muttered and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I would be lying if I said people didn't make fun of me often. I'm mostly used to it but today I just felt a lot crankier and tired than usual. Something was stirring in the air and I was just pissed off. And stupid Bobofit wasn't helping at all. I could feel 24 pairs of eyes staring at me and I tried to avoid looking at anyone.

"Percy…" Mr. Brunner finally broke the deafening silence that seemed to hurt just as much as the loud noise the class usually was like. "I'm afraid you are going to have go to the principal's office. This behaviour is not tolerated in schools." He wrote something down on a piece of paper and held it out. I blinked for a moment before slowly walking to his desk to receive the small rectangular paper. A few kids behind me snickered.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, feeling like I let him down. Oddly, right before I left, Mr. Brunner gave a slight nod and patted my shoulder; this peaked my curiosity.

The hallways were empty; there were no fish in the sea at this time of day. Students were banned from roaming the hallways during class-time without a legitimate reason, and the consequence was suspension. No matter how tempting it was to just skip class and relax on the lawn, it was never worth it. The principal made sure of it.

As I walked through the deserted hallways, my shoes made thumping sounds on the hard concrete tiles. There were hardly any windows at my school, so sunlight was rare to find. The walls were coloured a dirty brown; they made me itch just by looking at them.

I tried to get my mind off the fact that I was supposed to be in Latin class right now, having our daily question session. I took a deep breath; I've done this before. Getting into trouble is like a weekly occurrence for me, but I can never get over the fact that it interrupts my normal schedule time.

I was so absorbed into my thoughts that I didn't notice I was staring at the door to the principal's office. Well, here goes. I opened the door to find the principal staring expectantly at me, like he was… waiting for something.

"Well?" the principal lazily stood up from his chair and rolled his eyes.

Was I supposed to do something? Say something? I was confused.

"Well…" I copied him because I had no idea what was going on. Maybe if I just stand here, he'll tell me what to do or just forget me. Fat chance.

The principal sighed like talking was the hardest thing he's ever accomplished in his life. "Okay Jackson, take a seat."

I sat down.

"Just admit it."

"I'm sorry Nancy Bobofit is always so rude." I muttered.

"No," he sighed. "stop playing stupid with me Jackson. Just admit the truth and I can send you to Hades the easy way."

Hades, the god of the Underworld? Okay, I was officially confused. My eyes darted around the room and the nails on my right hand began tapping furiously on the wooden chair. The principal stood up and slowly approached me; I imagined a predator stalking a prey. Out of nowhere, he grabbed my neck, lifted me up and slammed me into the wall. He morphed into something inhuman, with a lion-like body and a tail. His paw-hand-thing crushed me into the wall, but I didn't care—I didn't care, my head was on fire and I couldn't make it stop.

He roared into my ear, "WHERE IS IT? WHERE'S THE BOLT? Master will delight in having you."

I screamed in agony and tried to cover my ears in futile; his voice was the loudest screech ever and all I cared about at the moment was getting away. Almost on instinct, I kicked him in the neck, making him let go of me. The door slammed open and Chiron and Grover flooded in.

"Percy, are you okay?!" Grover asked as Mr. Brunner tossed me a pen. When I made no move to take the pen, he took out his bow (which was nonexistent a minute ago) and shot the temporarily paralyzed beast/principal right through the chest, making him explode in golden dust.

"I'm… what… was that?" _My Latin teacher just shot my lion-like-principal. My Latin teacher… just SHOT MY PRINCIPAL. WITH AN ARROW._

Grover helped me up into a chair as Mr. Brunner said, "A blasted manticore, thankfully in its weakened state, or else killing it would have been harder."

Suddenly, the air in front of Mr. Brunner shimmered and a face appeared; my mind figuratively exploded with disbelief.

"Chiron," it said. It was the voice of a girl who I could see was blonde and wore an excruciatingly bright orange shirt. "There have been some skirmishes with groups of monsters outside the borders near Thalia's tree, and Clarisse wants to go charging out there. She won't take no for an answer, that stupid stubborn girl."

"Annabeth, get your cabin to make a strategy to fight them off and I'm afraid it will be up to Luke to make sure nobody does anything rash. I will be there as soon as I can, take care." The Latin teacher swiped his hand over the air then turned towards us. "I will take my leave now, Grover; assist Percy to Camp Half-Blood as soon as you notify Sally."

Mr. Brunner picked up the pen that I left on the ground and crouched so that we were face to face. He held up the pen by the tip, and looked me carefully with ancient, knowing eyes. "Perseus, this will help you in times of need. Do not forget that. We will meet soon again, but know that you will do great things one day."

I wanted to ask how, why, when? I wanted to scream that it simply wasn't possible, but deep down, I trusted him. I took the pen. "Riptide…" I murmured.

"C'mon," Grover put my arm around his shoulders to help me up, but I carefully slid away.

"It's fine, I'm fine… I can walk." I gave him a smile in thanks, and he reluctantly led me out through the hallways of the school.

Nancy and her friends walked by us in the hallway, and she stopped to taunt. "Oh look, the little freak got expelled. Good _riddance._" Her stupid friends smirked behind her, and I felt raw power build up in me, thinking of all the times she made fun of me. There was this strange and uncomfortable churning in my gut that I had only felt only once or twice before, and I knew something bad was about to happen from previous experience.

"What? Nothing to—"

Out of nowhere, the water fountain exploded and water lashed out at only Nancy, slamming her into the ground. Many students gasped while the stupid kleptomaniac girl gaped at me in almost horror. I stared at her with cold, disinterested eyes before turning around on my heels and walking away, with Grover running to catch up with me. "Where are we going?"

Grover blinked at me a few times in slight fear before answering. "To meet your mom, and then head to… a camp."

"Why are you not more scared… or well, curious?" he asked me after a moment. Some students turned their eyes on us, but nobody stopped us as we left out the door.

"I-I am, I just… I don't know, do you mind explaining more to me?" I really was confused and shaken, but I think I was still in a state of shock. However, I did know that something dangerous and evil tried to kill me. It was looking for something… a bolt, but I didn't have it. I didn't take anything.

Grover stopped walking when we reached the bus stop, then turned around to face me. He put a light hand on my shoulder, before thinking better of it and taking it back off. "Look, there's no way to say it and we certainly don't have the time, but... the Greek Gods are real." He rushed out, and then took a deep relieving breath, but I just stared at him.

There were dozens of questions swirling in my mind, but I suppressed them all as anger and betrayal overtook me. "Do you think I'm crazy? Sometimes I feel and do things I can't control. Act strangely. BUT I'M NOT INSANE!" Why would Grover do this to me? I swallowed thickly, thinking he was just like everyone else who thought I was weird and stupid. "Why would you lie to me?"

"N-no, Percy, I'm not lying!" Grover took a step towards me with a look of hurt and desperation, but I wouldn't fall for his stupid trick. The bus came just in time, and I quickly pushed him aside and sat at the very back, feeling dread rush into me. Grover rushed onto the bus before it left, and tentatively took a seat across from me.

I didn't want to talk to him, but he rambled on about how the Greek gods were real, and about a camp called Camp Half-Blood for _kids _like _me_, whatever that meant. The more he talked, the worse I felt. I pulled my knees to my chest and curled up, feeling as if something bad were to happen soon. I looked outside the window and watched as rain began to pour down and soak the city to the bone. I missed my mom, with all her delicious blue cookies and the warm smile she would give me, and the hope that shined in her bright blue eyes despite what a disappointment I was.

Finally, Grover said, "Percy, you're a demigod—half human, half god." knocking me out of my half-zoned state.

"So I'm not even human." I sighed monotonously.

Grover sighed, then scooted into the seat next to me. "Of course you're not a human!" he said loudly—which made me glare at him, partly because of his comment and the other part because he was so loud—and then placed a heavy hand on my shoulder, except this time, he kept it there. Lowering his voice, he said, "You're better than that. You're _half-god _for Zeus' sake. Chiron and I, we believe you will do great things soon enough; don't think you're anything less."

I hesitantly patted his shoulder lightly. "Thanks. Y-you're a good friend," I whispered.

"So you believe me?" he glanced at me hopefully.

I didn't answer until we arrived at our bus stop. There was plenty to think about; a lot of information to absorb and decisions to make. Finally, as we exited the bus, I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around expectantly, and I told him, "I believe you because there's no way that I'm going to accept that I'm crazy. Not now. Not yet."

We headed up Park Ave. towards my apartment building. The old brown brick building loomed over our heads as we headed inside. On the 4th floor, I knocked precisely 4 times as I always did, letting my mom know it was me.

As soon as the door opened, I jumped into her arms, feeling the tension and worry ease out of me. The feeling that something bad was going to happen subsided and I looked up at her and smiled.

Suddenly, in the background, I heard stupid Gabe—a smelly, ugly walrus-like stranger that lives in my apartment—ask who it was.

"It's Percy, honey! He's back from school." A stranger who happens to be my step-father, unfortunately.

"Tell him to go away!" I would if I could, really. I would go away, take my mother with me, and leave him alone and without his stupid bean dip she always makes him.

My mom ignored him and winked at me with twinkling brown eyes. "I've got blue cookies for you."

However, as soon as her eyes landed on Grover, she adopted a more worried look. I walked past the old walrus and took a couple cookies before going back to the door where Grover and my mom were chatting quietly.

I shamefully admit that I didn't listen until I had finished my batch of cookies (they were extremely satisfying). Grover told my mom that I knew about the Greek Gods and that he had to take me to the camp—apparently my mom knew what he was talking about. She told me to go upstairs and back my backpack, which I did. I didn't really know what to pack for, so I just stuffed a bunch of stuff in that I thought I would need. I headed downstairs with my backpack on my shoulders.

My mom turned to me and pulled me into another big warm fuzzy hug. "I wish you didn't have to go so soon, my baby."

"Wish I didn't have to go either." I mumbled regretfully. "I'll be back, won't I? You'll see me soon."

She looked at me sadly. "Hopefully."

No matter what, even if the camp or whoever forbids me, I will go back here. I will come back to my mom.

Grover and my mom talked a bit more before we said our goodbyes and left. I was still confused but I trusted my mother enough to know what was going on and to make the right decision for me—she always did. However, that didn't exactly mean that I didn't want to get some questions cleared up.

As Grover and I walked down a wide alley, I turned around and faced him, making him pause and look at me questioningly.

"I need to ask some questions. First of all, what is this 'camp'?" I asked.

My best friend sighed and scratched his head for a moment. "Well, it's a camp for demigods, like you; half god and half human."

"So..." I said. "Who's my dad?"

"We... don't know yet." He mumbled, but he looked like he was holding something back. Before I could question him though, Grover's eyes widened and he took a few steps away from me, before tragically tripping over his own feet onto the ground.

I blinked, then furrowed my brows in concern. "Grover, you have hooves for feet."

He ignored what I said and pointed to something behind me, his hands trembling. "Y-you know wh-what I said about Greek g-gods being real?"

Suddenly, I was acutely aware of somebody's revolting and ragged breath uncomfortably breathing down my neck.

"W-well, so are the monsters."

Slowly, and carefully, I turned around nervously, only to stand face to face—well, snout, really—with a bull. Well, it would have fit the criteria for a bull if it did not have legs of a human with fruit-of-the-loom underwear. Two long horns protruded from his head and a golden ring was pierced through his nostrils, making him even more menacing if possible. I instinctively covered my ears as the bull-thing roared (also making bystanders scream) and threw me to the side with his hoof. I hit the wall hard, but got up straight away when I saw it charge at Grover. It ran at him and I yelled in terror, before Grover dove to the side. I was disappointed to say that the goat man fainted next, leaving me to panic alone.

"HEY! BULL MAN! OVER HERE!" I yelled at him. He turned towards me and began to charge. Luckily, he never got a chance to finish swiping his hoof (as bulls do) before I ran away and through a narrow ally with many bikes and trash cans, where he would have trouble following me.

"COME FOLLOW ME!" I had to get him away from Grover. Bikes and garbage was thrown everywhere as the bull man rammed through the alley way. I didn't know what to do; I didn't have any plan.

_Perseus, this will help you in times of need. _I could hear Mr. Brunner's voice in my head. Now was as good of a time as any, I suppose.

I took the pen from my pocket and glanced at it, hoping it would do something—anything. It looked like an ordinary, cheap ball point pen that I could get at any convenience store, except for the fact that it was engraved in Greek. As if someone had planted the thought into my brain, I uncapped it and it transformed into a glowing sword right in front of my eyes. It looked to be about 3 feet long and was the practically the perfect balance for me.

In the open, I turned around and met the bull head on. He charged towards me as he did previously, and I waited until the last minute. _Wait... Wait... NOW! _He was almost upon me when I dropped to the ground baseball style and used my sword to jab right in between his rib cage. The bull stomped on the ground a bit and I almost got trampled by his feet. He stood up on his feet and screeched in pain at the sky, allowing me jump on his back (which was very hairy) and stab him in the neck with Riptide. All of a sudden, the creature exploded into golden dust, leaving me to fall down. I didn't have time to catch myself and heard some of my bones crack from the pressure.

Vaguely I heard people screaming in shock and several people surrounded me. Somebody said something to the crowd and even I calmed down internally at his words. And then, all of a sudden, everything went silent. I looked up to see a young blonde man with sunglasses dressed in a polo shirt and jeans—everyone else was gone. He had a powerful yet relaxed aura and as he bent down to look at me, I somehow knew he wouldn't hurt me.

I got up and placed the cap back on Anakalusmos, turning it back into a pen that could do no harm. Suddenly the world got shaky and I felt faint headed. I felt as if the air weighed a ton and it was hard to stay upright.

"Woah there—" before the guy could say anything further, I felt my feet escape under me and my vision faded slowly to black as I lay on the floor.

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I hope you guys enjoyed it :)

Please review or constructively criticize, and I will update whenever I can, but I can often be busy sometimes - However, winter break has just begun, so that's fantastic!

December 19, 2013.


	2. The New Olympus Life

**Chapter 2: The New Olympus Life**

Percy's eyes slowly opened as he regained consciousness. The first thing he saw was a bright white room, so bright in fact that he was forced to clamp his eyes shut. The next time he dared to open his eyes, he saw a row of beds going down the gigantic room and a huge glass supply closet of what looked like to be medical supplies. His breath hitched as he determined that he was in some kind of bare hospital.

"Don't panic," the man from earlier said, as he saw Percy begin to fret. "The name's Apollo."

Percy twiddled with the plain white bed sheets, itching to get out of there.

"You had a broken ankle and a couple of broken ribs, as well as a huge stomach cut. It seems you fainted from exhaustion but you would've fainted from blood loss if you withstood a minute more." Apollo leaned forward in curiosity and wonder. "Doesn't it hurt? At all?" He resisted the urge to poke and prod the child, choosing instead to sit on his hands—just in case.

The kid hesitated, then shook his head. "Just feels funny, I s'pose." He mumbled.

"You're an alien, aren't ya."

"I was born from my mother, who's definitely a human. You can go ask her."

The sun god meant it as a joke and felt guilty when the kid's response was defensive and sharp.

As soon as Apollo left the room to get him a drink and something to eat, Percy jumped out of bed and ran out the door. He still wasn't fully recovered so the world was turning left and right, and he nearly ran into a wall at one point. His bare feet pounded on the stone floors and his expression morphed into shock when he took a look at his surroundings outside the building. It didn't look like New York City, like he expected. Temples like the ones he saw in his history textbooks stood tall and straight and gleamed in all its great glory. Where the heck did Apollo take him to?

With a dazed look, he put on a pair of sunglasses that he clumsily took from a street vendor nearby, grateful that nobody was paying attention. He wandered away from the streets where beautiful people (who emanated power that he had never felt with other people) strolled casually and into a quieter, pretty garden. The vines and plants seemed as if they were created deliberately with magic since they weaved with each other in harmony to create something similar to a sanctuary. In the center of the garden was a young girl about the age of 8, to which he was immediately drawn to.

Carefully sitting next to her, he didn't conceal his curious stare and took off his sunglasses to get a better look at her. She had nice mousy brown hair and wore a humbling but pretty brown robe. The girl turned to him and smiled with such warmth that it made Percy grin in return. "So this is why I had to come..." she said almost inaudibly under her breath, after glancing at his eyes.

"That dolphin clip," he innocently pointed to her hair with his scarred fingers. "is really pretty."

She nodded and said wistfully, "Thank you, my dear younger brother gave it to me for my birthday a long, long time ago."

He stuck out his hand, remembering the manners that his mother taught him long ago. He wasn't used to being so polite, but he felt compelled to with the girl. "Hi, my name's Percy, what's yours?"

She shook his hand and said, "You can call me Hestia."

"Hesty, can I call you that?" Percy forgot to wait for a reply, but Hestia didn't really mind. This child was full of such enthusiasm and was the most interesting and enlightening person she'd encountered for weeks. "I've had a weird day, and I don't really know what to think. I got attacked by this weird creature this afternoon, and then my best friend turned out to be a donkey or something, and I woke up here and... do you by any chance know a guy named Apollo?" For Percy, spilling out his guts had somehow relieved the stress and worry that plagued him. He felt so trusting of this girl that he sort of felt scared—what if she didn't like him or made fun of him?

Hestia nodded in response, causing him to say, "Is he...nice?" What he really meant but couldn't find a way to ask was if Apollo could be trusted; if he should open up to him. _It's hard,_ Percy thought. _To open up to others when you don't know if they will hurt you._

The eight year old seemed to understand and smiled gently. "Apollo is a very close friend of mine, who is sweet and can be childish at times—but in a good way, I suppose."

Percy nodded and they sat in a peaceful silence for a few minutes until they heard someone approaching them. He turned around to see Apollo jogging towards them with a concerned look on his face. "Percy, there you are! I was looking everywhere! If Zeus found you first, he would kill me."

"I was just..." he turned around to see the bench empty.

Apollo kneeled down on the ground in front of Percy so that they were eye-to-eye. "Is everything okay?" He asked with a sincere look.

Percy looked back at the empty bench one more time before nodding gratefully. "Yeah... and I didn't get a chance to say this earlier but thanks—for helping me."

Apollo had never intended to be so emotionally involved with the kid. He thought that he would just help the demigod recover and then let him go off on his own way. However, the more he talked with Percy as the days went by, the more he felt compelled to take care of him and make sure he was alright.

Apollo had not finished healing Percy to the best of his ability so he reluctantly went back to the hospital bed and obeyed the doc's commands. However, to ease the kid's boredom, Apollo further explained about Greek gods, and when he mentioned that he was the god of prophecies, medicine, archery, music, etc., the kid's eyes bulged out with shock and amazement, and began stuttering comments, which made the god laugh—oh boy, he had never laughed that much in centuries!

Although the boy was very quiet and distant—almost aggressive, he'd say—before, he had grown much more talkative since then, fleeting from topic to topic, almost all about swimming or sea animals.

It hadn't been until Percy paused in his speech that the sun god noticed his eyes for the first time; a bright sea green that was an exact replica of... Poseidon, god of the seas.

He mentally smacked himself on the head because he knew that Percy was a demigod, but didn't bother to question _which._

"Percy," Apollo interrupted his rapid talk about beluga whales, "Your dad has never lived with you, right?"

The boy clammed up for a moment, before he finally said, "Well, my mom married a guy—Gabe—but I don't consider him a father because he's atrocious."

Apollo scratched his head in contemplation for a moment. Now that he knew about Percy's father, he wasn't exactly sure if it was the right choice to unite them. Percy might still harbour bitter feelings about his biological father... the sun god looked at the boy's neutral face and decided. "You up for some drama?" he asked jokingly.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows before half-shrugging. "I guess."

"Okay, we're gonna go into the throne room now, and I need you to hide behind my throne; it's the awesome one with gold on it. You need to be as quiet as possible, got it?" he asked.

Percy nodded in response before they both walked out of the room.

"Uncle P., do you by any chance…" Apollo casually leaned against the wall as Poseidon raised his eyebrows in suspicion.

"Hurry the Hades up Apollo and stop trying to be all cryptic. I've got things to do." The sea god said absentmindedly as he fiddled with some wires by Hermes' throne. The stupid messenger god had pulled another prank on him and he was getting his revenge by hardwiring the god's throne to malfunction with all its gadgets that were placed in the throne. It was going to be brilliant and Hephaestus agreed to videotape it and put it on his TV channel.

Apollo pouted at being rushed, but nevertheless carried on. "Do you by any chance have a son?"

"Yes…" Poseidon had an amused look on his face. With deliberate slowness, the sea god answered, "Triton, remember that merman with a tail, who lives in Atlantis with me and Amphitrite?"

The sun god sighed. This interrogation was clearly not going as planned. "I mean a demigod son."

The sea god's eyes widened and he dropped his wires. "…no. Not at all, why would you think that? It would be breaking ancient laws."

If Apollo wasn't carefully looking for any suspicious signs, he would've missed it. But he saw it. Right as Poseidon replied, his shoulders tensed and his face showed a hint of panic.

"First of all, I think we all know by now that you don't care about any pointless law that my father makes out of paranoia."

Poseidon looked like he was going to object, but changed his mind at the last moment, causing Apollo to carry on with his rant.

"Second of all, I can tell you're lying—I'm the god of truth, you know. You _do_ have a demi—"

"Shush!" Poseidon clamped his hand tightly onto Apollo's mouth while his eyes roamed around the room suspiciously. "Someone might be eavesdropping on us."

Suddenly, a tiny sneezing sound was heard, and Poseidon tensed (Apollo sighed and facepalmed). He materialized his trident and approached Apollo's throne cautiously.

"You see, that's what I was trying to say…" the sun god smiled brightly as he calmly leaned against a pillar.

Taking a deep breath, Poseidon prepared himself to defend his illegal secret at all costs, even if it meant possibly bargaining with or killing (if not an Olympian) the eavesdropper. He raised his trident and confronted the person, only to drop it when he blinked at a head of shaggy black hair similar to his own. But, it couldn't be…

"…I found him."

…could it?

"Sorry," the kid said so quietly that both Apollo and Poseidon thought they imagined it for a second. "I couldn't hold in that sneeze." He smiled at them, almost sheepishly.

Poseidon looked at the kid in shock. This was his long lost son? The son that he hasn't seen in a decade? He had the right to shed some unmanly tears.

Poseidon stared at him. He had unruly black hair that was untameable and sea green eyes that was bright with excitement. Oh, his sea green eyes were ones identical to his own; the trademark of a son of the sea. Although he was scrawny at the age of ten, Poseidon could tell that his son was going to be a heart-breaker when he grew up. In fact, maybe in a couple of years or so, Perseus was going to look just like his father.

"So… he's yours right?" Apollo asked nervously, because dang, it would be really embarrassing to show up with a random kid on Olympus.

Poseidon didn't bother replying because he was too busy hugging his son to death. I mean, hello, it's been 10 freakin' years! Percy stiffened as he tuned into the adult's conversation. This strange man with a metal stick was his... father? More importantly, this was the man who left him and his mom alone?

The man's hugs didn't feel as nice as his mom's, and although he smelled of the sea (which Percy enjoyed), Percy didn't appreciate the fact his long lost dead beat dad chose _now _to show up (or more like be surprised by Apollo, he supposed).

"I'm going to take that as a yes…" the sun god muttered. "Alright, sorry to bring this up, but what's going to happen with little Perce here?" he ruffled the kid's hair, which made him look back at the sun god irritatedly.

"What do you mean?" Poseidon asked absentmindedly.

"Dad will freak if he knows you have a kid."

"WAIT." the sea god stood up so fast it startled Percy for a moment. "How'd you even find him?" He couldn't believe he didn't ask this question sooner. Sally… his beloved mortal queen was supposed to take care of him.

"He killed the Minotaur, I found him on the streets with—"

"Mom's at home, if that's what you're asking." Percy said flatly, putting some space between him and his dad.

Poseidon tried to hide his grimace at his son's cold tone towards him.

"If I'm right..." Apollo said slowly, as he gathered his thoughts together. For once he was serious and mature. "Your son will most likely be the one."

Percy mouthed the word 'the one?' to himself in confusion as Poseidon's eyes widened slightly. "Oh gods, I hoped... well, Zeus' daughter..."

The sun god shook his head sadly. "A tree, unfortunately."

Poseidon sighed. "Well, I think there's one good thing about this, I guess."

"What?" Apollo asked.

"It would be good for all of Olympus if he were to be raised here." Percy scowled, as he was beginning to get annoyed at being talked about like he wasn't _right _there. "We could teach him how to fight; about all the monsters."

The younger god outright gaped. "You mean on..." he gestured wildly all around him.

Poseidon nodded. "Although I don't think my brother will approve."

Apollo stared down at the kid, who was sitting down cross-legged with his chin on his hand, looking severely disinterested. "Then he won't know." he found himself saying. "This is for the good of Olympus." he convinced himself.

The sea god looked at him with surprise and concealed admiration. After a moment, he slowly nodded. "Let's just pray we don't get caught."

Percy yawned loudly as the two gods showed him to his new room. He was to sleep in Apollo's abode because his dad's was closely monitored by mermaid people who got jealous easily (or so Poseidon said, although he was not a little kid; he didn't need things being dumbed down for him).

"Your backpack that I found is in the corner and the closet's filled with clothes your size. I'm just down the hallway if you need anything," Apollo said before leaving, but Percy barely registered, as he was extremely exhausted from the day.

Poseidon stood to the side awkwardly as Percy brushed his teeth and got ready for bed.

"I know we haven't formally met but—"

"Hi, name's Pershy Jackshon." Percy said with a mouthful of toothpaste, hoping it didn't seem rude. It was just unfortunate that he was brushing his teeth at the time.

"I'm Poseidon." He smiled half-heartedly, disappointed that his son was acting quite distant. But really, what more could he ask for. He did ditch him and his mom, after all.

Percy gaped, but quickly closed his mouth as toothpaste dripped out. "The god of the seas?" he remembered the crash Greek Gods lesson Apollo taught him in the hospital. He quickly spit out the toothpaste and washed his mouth. "You're really cool." He blurted out without thinking, before blushing. "Y'know... with dolphins and all..."

The god smiled. "You should see the hippocampus. They are wonderful."

Percy almost began rapidly talking again as many sea-related questions materialized in his head, but then he remembered that this was the man who didn't see him for ten years; that this was the man he was supposed to be angry at. So instead, he said, "I'm sort of sleepy."

The sea god automatically took the hint, and bid him goodbye sadly, before leaving the room.

_This is for the best,_ he thought before climbing into bed. But secretly, he hoped the god would come back tomorrow.

* * *

December 27, 2013

Please review and give feedback, it would really mean a lot, and thanks for reading!


	3. Back to Sally

**Chapter 3 – Back to Sally**

* * *

Percy would've asked how Apollo knew what size clothes he wore, but then he remembered that he was a _god._

_It's hard to wrap your mind _around, he thought, as he got dressed and left his room.

"My dad's a god." He whispered quietly to himself. _My dad's a god. My DAD'S a GOD. _He continued chanting in his head.

_My dad's—_

"PERCY!" Apollo tapped his head like he was a coconut as he entered the kitchen. "Earth to Perce, are you there?"

"Loud and clear." He grumbled. "Unfortunately."

"Hey! You made your first joke!" Apollo grinned.

"Nope, I was telling the truth."

The sun god playfully frowned before handing him a bowl and utensils. "Okay, eat up, kid."

The son of Poseidon took the bowl and sat down at the kitchen table, before he stared blankly at Apollo. It was empty.

"Oh," Apollo laughed. "Say what you want and it shall appear, young grasshopper."

Percy shook his head at all the weird nicknames before he began to think about what he wanted to eat for breakfast. "Oatmeal." He finally said.

Magically, wet oatmeal appeared in the bowl and he smiled, impressed.

Apollo gave him a strange look before digging into his own breakfast consisting of eggs, toast and ambrosia. "You could have anything you want for breakfast—ice cream, cookies—but you choose oatmeal. Fantastic."

Percy wondered if he could just keep piling things in his bowl, so he asked for some carrots, and lo and behold, it appeared just the way he imagined it.

"You're eating all of that."

Percy didn't eat all of it. He hated carrots and he hated it on his oatmeal and so in the end, Apollo fed it to the rabbits that lived in Demeter's garden.

Afterwards, Apollo decided to show Percy around on Olympus. However, to not get spotted, both of them put on cloaks—Percy insisted on sunglasses too, claiming that it was so bright outside—that covered their faces and made them look like inconspicuous, unimportant minor gods.

"Do all these people really live here?" It seemed to Percy that there were so many minor gods—hundreds, or more—and they seemed to roam around aimlessly, doing trivial and ungodly stuff. It's not to say that they weren't important, because Percy thought they were (everyone was, in his eyes), but they surely didn't act important.

"Yup, some of them share households, or have their own, but they all live here like a human community." Apollo explained. "Very humanly of us, I suppose, eh?"

They left the farmer's market (Apollo got annoyed at all the naiads offering a free sample of ambrosia on a stick) and arrived at an amphitheatre where a group of characters in old, ancient clothing were putting on a play.

"That's Shakespeare, y'know." Apollo pointed to a man in a royal dark red robe sitting near the stage, looking absolutely bored out of his mind. He didn't look like much. "His colours look a bit faded but oh well, that's probably because he's rented out of the Underworld so much. I don't even know why he still does it though; he lives in Elysium for gods' sakes."

Percy took this all in stride and nodded in agreement.

For the rest of the day, Apollo showed Percy around Olympus and all the different and wonderful places that existed and activities that the gods did in their free time.

Finally, it was 7:13pm and the sun was beginning to set. Percy and Apollo walked through the streets of Olympus, with bright green Greek fire lamps lighting up the scenery in a kind of eerie sense.

"Apollo," Percy asked as he twiddled with his thumbs. "How come you aren't making the sun set? Doesn't that contradict your role as the sun god?"

'Contradict?' Apollo mouthed to himself with a surprised look. How did a ten year old know such big words? "Well, I can put my sun chariot on auto so that it drives itself, since I can't be driving for all 12 hours of the day—that'd be _boring_."

"So you don't have to do anything?" Percy raised his eyebrow.

Apollo smirked. "Ah, but Zeus _prefers_ me to ride it when I can because it's a lot more accurate and if a mistake is made while setting the timer, it could spook or confuse the mortals."

"Oh." they walked in silence for another five minutes. The gods and goddesses of Olympus began retreating into their homes to party or attend to their duties.

The day was for doing activities and the night was for partying in the gods' books. It was extremely fun, especially for the newer gods, and there was less responsibility involved then many people thought.

But sometimes, when he had partied for the 34th night in a row, and sweet-talked minor goddess after minor goddess (none of them he'd actually taken seriously—they were _minor _after all), Apollo felt _tired. _On those nights, he felt a longing for something, but didn't know what. Perhaps Hephaestus was right; they _were _becoming too human. He didn't have these kinds of pesky emotions back in Ancient Greece.

"Apollo?" Percy's quiet voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?" he murmured.

"How does a person get off this place? How do we get back to New York?" It was posed as a simple, innocent question, but Apollo could feel the underlying stress.

They had neared the front of Olympus so Apollo decided to point out the entrance to him. "Over there," he pointed to an obscure elevator that was the height of an average person. "It's hard to see because we mostly just flash down, instead of taking the elevator. It's usually reserved for demigo—"

"Can we go?" the son of Poseidon blurted out as his fingers flicked nervously. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth at how stupidly childish he sounded. "To, uh, to my mom's apartment? She... She, ah..."

Apollo put a gentle hand on his shoulder and felt sad when the boy instinctively shirked back. "Let's take the elevator down." he said.

Together, they rode down the elevator (awful music that made Apollo cringe played), and caught a cab to the apartment in silence.

The apartment's door opened up and Sally Jackson appeared. She looked years older from when Percy last saw her, and he felt guilt-ridden because he was probably the cause.

It took a couple of seconds for Sally Jackson to recognize who was standing at her door, before she broke down into sobs and squeezed her son into the tightest hug yet. Percy relished this as he missed it sorely—the days of hugging so tight you couldn't even breathe much.

"P-Percy, my little boy!" Sally cried as she held him tight. Percy tried not to cry but his eyes felt a little wet anyway.

"SALLY!" somebody shouted from the kitchen, and Apollo saw Percy stiffen up. Was this the Gabe he had heard about? Percy's mother quickly dried her tears and composed herself before giving a small smile to Apollo.

"Please, come in, Lord Apollo." She said.

The sun god gaped for a quick moment before entering. How did a mortal recognize a god that they didn't even meet before? Poseidon had picked a smart woman, that was for sure.

They entered the kitchen and Apollo tried to hide his disgust as he smelled the man's odour. _So this was how Percy was hidden all these years,_ he thought.

"Sally, who's this?" he muttered gruffly as he sat at the kitchen table.

"Gabe, this is Apollo. He brought Percy back, isn't that great?" Sally tried to smile.

Percy scrunched up his face as a show of detestation, but otherwise acted as if it was normal to be missing for a week or two, and then come back without so much as a welcome back. Percy casually drank a cup of milk before going to watch TV.

Apollo was disgusted. These were the people who gave guys a bad rep. These were the people who his sister hated with a passion; ones who treated people horribly for no reason.

"So the brat's back," Gabe drawled sarcastically. "Fantastic."

Rage coursed through the sun god's veins and without even thinking about it, he had Gabe against the wall, his hand around the man's stubby neck. It did not take much strength at all, this _mortal _was slow and sluggish. "Shut up. _Shut. Up._"

He had only been in Percy's presence for a short amount of time but Percy didn't deserve this shit, if anything.

Gabe sneered. "You have outstayed your welcome. Get out."

"No," Apollo gritted as he tightened his hold on him. "I think _you_ have outstayed your welcome. I will send you to the Underworld in the fields of Asphodel where you will stay there for eternity, doing nothing; thinking nothing. And even _that, _is merciful."

Gabe could not say anything before a blinding gold light surged from Apollo's hands and engulfed him. There was a loud buzzing sound that came with the strong use of power, and then it disappeared, as did Gabe. It was silent, and there was a faint mark on the ground from the heat. That was the end of Gabe Ugliano making trouble.

"That's not fair." Apollo whipped his head around to see Percy staring at him with swirling sea-green eyes. He was sitting on the couch, the National Geographic channel on in the background. "He was just a mortal and you are a god and that is not fair." Percy stared at him with an unreadable face for a moment before deciding to turn around and continue to watch TV.

The sun god thought that Percy would have been grateful; Gabe must have treated him like crap for a long time. Why was he not grateful?

Sally went over and softly led him to a kitchen chair. Apollo did not realise he was shaking. He had, of course, killed mortals before and sometimes for petty reasons, but Percy's look resonated with him. He didn't know what it was, but did he see fear and disgust in his eyes? Apollo did not know, but he let the thought float away and settled on the present again.

"Thank you, and I am sorry about Percy. He's different." She sat across from him and gave him a small, but surely warm, smile. Sally didn't seem as disturbed as Percy did, and maybe, she didn't view him as a monster.

Apollo nodded distractedly. "He sure is."

The two adults looked at each other, glanced at the son of Poseidon, and then looked at each other again. Apollo could see that Sally Jackson was young, maybe in her mid-thirties, and yet she had faint wrinkle lines on her face as if she were holding a cumbersome burden. Her dark brown hair and ocean blue eyes differed greatly from Percy's—his were basically a carbon copy of Poseidon—, but he could distinguish some features that both family members possessed—it was more subtle than colour, but still there. Their nose was the same build, as were the angles of their chins, and he could go on.

"I'm sorry." he finally murmured. Did they even want Gabe gone? It seemed like a rash decision now, and he had never really minded making rash, sometimes stupid, decisions—until now. Now, it felt wrong.

"No, no, thank you for protecting us and for bringing Percy back. Grover… Grover and Chiron, they told me…" Sally began tearing up before she composed herself again. "I didn't know what happened to him."

Apollo reached across the table and grabbed Sally's hand in awkward comforting—he was not used to doing these sort of things.

"Poseidon came to see Percy yesterday, but he's busy with some skirmishes in Atlantis at the moment," Apollo offered. "Although I'm sure he would have wanted to come."

Sally swallowed the lump in her throat, fiercely trying to push down her emotions at the mention of her dearly missed god.

"He... We were thinking of secretly raising Percy on Olympus, so we could train him. Something is stirring, Sally." Apollo frowned grimly. "Something very dark, and all my instincts are telling me it will revolve around your son."

Ms. Jackson couldn't take it anymore, she let out her tears, and Apollo felt awful. He didn't know what to do, so they just sat there in complete silence—sans Sally's crying—for a couple of minutes. Percy looked over a few times in concern, but thought it was best to not interfere. He seemed to become more jittery at the sound of his mother's woes.

Finally, she said, "With Gabe gone, he will not be safe here. And he will need all the training he can get."

"We will visit you when we can. Poseidon and I, we're gonna protect him, I swear, okay?" He would say anything to not see the same pain that he had often felt when he couldn't visit his own kids or be a normal parent.

Sally nodded slowly as her tears began to subside. She yawned loudly, and so Apollo led her upstairs into her bedroom and set her down. He went back downstairs and found Percy asleep on the couch, the TV still turned on. The little guy was drooling and he was sprawled all over the place. Apollo decided to take the kid upstairs and set him beside his mother. It was the least he could do for them, before they had to be separated once again when dawn arrived.

Out on the terrace, Apollo could see the never-sleeping city in all its night glory. Cars were still busily driving through the streets and lights were still on. However, down there was not what he came out here for. He expanded his godly aura so that it could reach farther places and be detected easily. Then, he waited.

"Apollo."

Apollo turned around and plastered on an annoying smirk. "Little sis, glad you could come."

Artemis put her hand on her hip and glared at him. Her silver hunter clothes glowed faintly in the dark and her usual auburn hair was fiery. Apollo remembered that she used to have silver-ish hair in a ponytail when she was younger. "Do you have something important to say, brother? I was in the middle of driving my chariot."

"What, I can't say hello to my little sister from time to time?" a smile was playing on his lips. Being annoying was fun, and whenever he was around his sister, his teasing side always seemed to just come out naturally.

The goddess of the hunt groaned. "For the last time, I'm _older _than you!" she paused and looked around, before scrunching her face up. "Are you... Did you _seriously _call me here at your _lover's _apartment?"

The sun god rolled his eyes before shrugging non-commitedly with a devious smirk. Inside though, he was annoyed that she would automatically come to that assumption. It wasn't even _true, _but if she wanted to think that, he would let her.

Artemis blanched at the thought. "If you haven't called me for an important reason, I'm going to take my leave now. Stop wasting my time, okay?" she grumbled irritatedly. She jumped with both feet onto the railing of the terrace, and then gracefully stood up, balancing easily.

"Wait." Apollo called out into the darkness. "Be careful...little sister." he added to keep up the playful demeanour. "Something's happening."

"I can feel it too, but it is a little ways off, I think." Artemis' eyes softened a fraction as she glanced at him sideways. "You be careful too, I don't want to waste my time saving your ass."

* * *

_Hi guys! Thank you so much for reviewing last chapter, I read all of them and I am so thankful to you guys._

Just thought we should get more personal since this is fanfiction, not a real novel, and I want to get to know you guys better, so I've decided to come up with a CQD - Curious Question of the Day, which you can choose to answer in the comment, and I'll also add my answer too! Also, feel free to PM me and give in suggestions to what you want to happen, although I must want you, I already have a few future chapters written, since I'll be busy soon. Also you guys can suggest a curious question of the day too so that i can announce it to everybody. Just thought this might be a little fun :)

Winter break is almost over [which makes me so very sad], and I have exams and seminars to do over the break, so my Curious Question of the Day is:

**What grade/education are you currently doing right now and do you have exams after the break is over, or did you already have it in December?**

Please answer in the comments section and I look forward to reading your responses! Updates will follow asap, thanks!

P.S: Sorry this chapter might seem like a downer, but I swear, it will get happier and more action-packed later, just stay tuned. Also, pairings will be decided in the future with polls.

January 3, 2013


	4. The Library Incident

**Chapter 4 - The Library Incident**

* * *

It had been a full 3 months since Apollo had found Percy and they had managed to keep it on the down low thus far. He remembered the first few weeks he found him. Percy was distant, and when he found out he couldn't stay with Sally, he threw a tantrum and refused to talk for a full week. Poseidon had finally visited by then (Percy was even madder) but even he couldn't make him talk.

It was a rocky nightmare, he remembered. They were little things, but it irked him to no end.

Percy decided that Apollo's chair—and he knew it was Apollo's because it glowed—looked more comfortable and so he sat there. For the rest of the month. The sun god was forced to sit in a regular demeaning chair, and it was not fair whatsoever.

Then, Percy would constantly leave his messes everywhere around the house, and Apollo being Apollo, didn't bother to clean up (he was too stubborn). They ended up drowning in a sea of dirty clothes, dirty dishes, and dirty garbage.

And then, the kid would insist on going to his mother's house at every possible moment, but there were only so many times that Apollo could let him visit. Percy couldn't get it through his thick head that every time he visited his mother, it _endangered _her.

Honestly, Apollo threatened Poseidon to take the kid, but ultimately, he knew that it was only up to him to raise Percy. But that didn't make it any more fun or easy. There were so many days that he wanted to give up and just go back to his simple old life of meeting babes on earth, and partying at night. There were so many days where he felt so mad that he wanted to incinerate the little guy.

It was like they had a rivalry with each other and just had to win at everything—who could piss each other off more, who could survive the longest without cleaning a dish? Apollo was absolutely appalled for a while because... who would dare challenge a god?

Percy was testing him. _How long until he cracks?_

It had taken a full month for them to get used to each other (enough to make it through the day without wanting to strangle each other). And for the following two months, Percy had begun his training and lessons.

Although Percy was still somewhat uncooperative, the amazing prospect of wielding weapons and learning about real monsters and gods won over his resolve.

Apollo knocked on the washroom door. Percy had asked to go to the bathroom right before they continued their training, but it had been 20 minutes already and he was bored of waiting.

"Percy! You in there?" he knocked harder on the door, but when there was no answer, he began to worry. Where could a kid go in a 100" x 60" washroom? Unless... he wasn't in there.

Apollo groaned. Of course, how could he not see it any sooner? The kid had always hated archery with a passion, and what was he about to be taught? Yeah.

He ran as fast as he could to the private Olympic swimming pool near Poseidon's palace (which was mostly for respect since he had Atlantis). However, half way on his run he flashed there. He had almost forgotten about that neat perk of being a god; being around Percy was changing him.

"Cmon cmon... where are you, Perce?" Apollo muttered as he scanned the pool, but it was empty. The sun god was beginning to bite his nail in nervousness because if anybody found Percy before him, it could mean deep trouble for both of them.

Apollo decided to search the most likely places on foot so that he wouldn't miss Percy on the way. He checked and re-checked the theatres and markets, weaving through all the busy and loud immortals. Next, he reluctantly checked the palaces and gardens, places where he specifically told Percy _not _to go because it would make him very noticeable. Even then, he could not find the kid, and he began to bite his lip in nervousness.

"Apollo!" somebody called from behind him and Apollo slipped on the marble ground as he tried to stop his quick momentum. He hit the ground with a loud thud, and if he wasn't a god, it would have probably broken something. He slowly stood up and turned around with a grimace. Lo and behold, the one person he didn't want to see at the moment showed up.

The sea god walked towards him. He seemed in a pretty good mood considering he just left the throne room (father could be tedious at times), but when he saw Apollo's face, he frowned. "Is something wrong? Why were you running?"

The sun god gave a tired and nervous smile. "Hey there, Uncle P. How was the meeting with father?"

Poseidon ran a hand through his hair and gave him a pointed look. "Don't avoid my questions, Apollo."

He sighed in response. "Uhh... so have you by any chance seen a younger carbon copy of you around here lately?"

All signs of amusement dropped from Poseidon face, and he looked, well, dangerous. "You have got to me kidding me." he deadpanned.

"He said he needed to go to the bathroom, but it seems as if he was just avoiding archery lessons." he defending himself. "He's more like Hermes than you, I'd say." he added as an afterthought, before clamping a hand on his mouth.

Poseidon growled under his breath before stalking away. "If something so much as happens to him..." he left the threat hanging.

Apollo jogged after him, feeling dread in his gut.

Percy subconsciously stuck his tongue out to the side in concentration.

He stood on his tippy toes and reached as high as he could. Finally, he grabbed the _Manual of Psittacine Birds _and moved it to the other side of the shelf where the other bird manuals resided.

At first, he had slipped into the library to avoid Apollo (since he knew that the sun god would never bother checking in the library), but then ended up reading Greek Myths. It was very interesting once he realized that they were real and walking around (he didn't understand what all the worshipping and fuss about Lord Apollo was about though, he wasn't that great to live with).

However, at the moment, he was re-organizing the private library because it was all wrong. The books were categorized based on the author's last name, but it was inefficient since there was no database to search them up and it was useless if you didn't know what you were looking for. Instead, he took the books off the shelves and intended to categorize them based on theme, topic and type.

He liked these kinds of things. Doing and having things in a specific order. It was simple and it was soothing.

He heard someone open the door behind him

"Hey little dude, what're you doing with all the books? Athena's going to freak." He smiled as he imagined Athena's outraged face.

Percy turned around and immediately said, "Lord Hermes." The god looked exactly like Percy imagined him to, with a winged helmet to top it all off. His curly brown hair and pointy ears gave him the impression that he was mischievous.

"Are you psychic?" the messenger god wondered. "How'd you know it was me?"

The son of Poseidon didn't bother to reply that he had been studying the gods and immediately recognized the winged sandals and caduceus. His beeping blackberry didn't give anything away either.

Hermes kneeled so that he was face to face with Percy. He put his hand behind his back and asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Percy smirked and pretended to rub his chin in contemplation. "Four." he grinned.

The messenger god didn't bother to hide his astonishment. "You, my friend, are psychic." He didn't know who this kid was, but he thought that he was pretty darn interesting.

Percy walked to a table at the end of the library and came back with a book in his hands. He held it up with a smile. "I found this earlier today. It's a profile of the Olympians and many of the minor gods. Your favourite number is four and so I guessed that that was the number you chose." he explained.

Hermes' jaw dropped. "Score!" he took the book and flipped through it. _Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, etc._ "Sherlock, do you know all the pranks we can do with this?"

"Sherlock?" Percy wondered.

"Yeah," the messenger god explained with a gleam in his eyes. "You pay attention to things nobody else bothers to notice. This book must've been in this library for eons, but nobody except you and a couple of dead guys probably found it."

The son of Poseidon flushed with modesty. "Ah, it wasn't much. I just found it while reorganizing the library."

"Speaking of which, why are you? Athena might be get a little pissed off." As he said that, Hermes slowly smiled. "Which is not totally a bad thing, you know."

"I find it calming," Percy shrugged before he continued to shelve the books.

Before any of them could say anything further, the doors to the library slammed open and two gods ran in before closing the doors again and leaning on it.

"Phew, that was a close one." Apollo panted as he tried to regain his breath; gods were always in good shape, but flashing was always the easiest way of escaping, not running. He had sweat dripping down his face and looked severely exhausted. Poseidon looked a tiny bit better. "Do you think she'll figure out we're in here?"

"I'm not sure if we—" Poseidon's eyes widened comically as his gaze swept the room. "Looks like we found him."

"What—oh." Apollo sighed.

"Hey Apollo, Poseidon." Hermes chirped. "I found a kid." He pointed beside him.

Percy half-smiled, but he knew he was going to be in deep trouble. "Hi." He waved.

The four beings stared at each other for a moment before they were interrupted by a banging at the door. "I'm flashing in there!" a woman on the other side warned.

Poseidon begged, "Wait, Owl Head! Please don't!" while Apollo dragged Percy behind a shelf at the very back and told him to keep his eyes closed.

As Percy tried to make himself small, he heard a loud _pop!_ and sensed an overpowering aura hang in the room; something that he didn't just feel from one god. Owl head. What goddess would be called Owl Head? After a moment of going through the major goddesses, which was simple since there were only 6, he decided that it was probably Lady Athena, the wisdom goddess.

"..." there was a silence before, "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BOOKS?!"

Percy flinched as if it was directed at him. He would never want to be on the wrong side of her.

"Well..." he could hear Apollo awkwardly saying. "HERMES DID IT." Percy peeked in between two sets of books and watched the scene quietly. Apollo was pointing at Hermes, who looked sort of startled.

The son of Poseidon held in his snicker because he knew Hermes was a god and he would be okay. He took the time to observe the new goddess; she was really pretty, but in sort of the intimidating way. She had intense grey eyes and black silky hair.

"YOU STUPID BRAT!" Athena screeched, just as Hermes laughed at her reddening face. "COME HERE!"

Hermes took this as his cue to leave, and flashed out, with Athena following close behind. Oh gods, that was a close call.

Percy hesitantly peeked behind the bookshelf to see Apollo laughing to himself and Poseidon giving him a stern look. "Perseus Jackson." he grumbled.

Percy grinned sheepishly.

* * *

Sorry for the wait, please review if you can :)

January 14, 2014


	5. Chores and Punishments

**Chapter 5 - Chores and Punishments**

Apollo was usually the one dishing out the stern lectures these days (sad, really, he would have never expected it a little less than five months ago), but now he was relaxing by the pool, occasionally laughing at whatever Poseidon was muttering—he was going insane.

"But father," Percy moaned in protestation. "why must I do this?"

"Because, Perseus," Poseidon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in agitation, and Percy groaned at the use of his full name. Poseidon looked slightly angry but his brown 'Neptune's fishing hat' embroidered with a flying blue fish made him look downright silly. "I am trying to teach you that you cannot just go around and poke fun at the naiads when they bother you!"

"They never do find out, father," he pointed out in return.

"But if they did, they might figure out whose child you are." the sea god frowned deeply.

"But..." Apollo could tell that Percy was just trying to bother Poseidon on purpose now, and he snickered internally. Good job Percy. He loved it when the son of Poseidon did these antics, as long as it wasn't aimed at him (which is was, for the most of the 7 months they were together). "You should have told me that before I did it! That's not fair."

"It is fair! You are a prince of Atlantis, and you should know better." the sea god reprimanded him. "I cannot have you going around doing things that will put you in harm's way."

"You don't come often, so I... wanted to do something with you." Percy took a different approach, Apollo saw. He really did look downcast, but the sun god didn't know whether the kid was telling the truth, the half truth, or just softening the sea god's heart (courtesy of Hermes' education). "Can you _please_ just let me off with a warning this one time?"

Poseidon looked at him sceptically before holding out a scraper.

Sighing in defeat, Percy slumped unceremoniously into the Olympic-sized pool, going in with a depressing _splunk_, mirroring his disheartened attitude. Apollo burst out laughing at the sight and Poseidon went over, took a coke bottle and lay down on the beach chair beside him.

Apollo slid down his ray bans and snuggled into the soft sand. Poseidon's palace was _the _best place to be, especially if you were a guy who loved the sun and beach. Not too long ago, ¼ of the palace was converted into an indoor beach with an Olympic sized pool filled with sea water as the place to swim. The swimming pool was deep enough that there were fish and corals at the bottom of the pool, but wouldn't disturb anyone who just wanted to swim freely like with a regular pool. The finest sand from the Caribbean islands was placed on the floor, and indoor lights that acted as the sun emanated light and heat, which could be controlled. The whole thing was topped off with beach chairs, a food shack, and a shelter filled with gear and water sports.

"You know he's just going to use his powers, right?" the sun god smiled blissfully as the warm rays hit him and warmed him up.

Poseidon summoned a bag of chips and began chomping on them. "That's why I put in some of Hecate's replenishing rust she keeps advertising about. That'll keep him busy for a couple of hours while we relax."

Apollo laughed—he didn't even know why Hecate would invent something like that. The two laid there for a long time, basking in the sunlight, and relaxing from a long day of nothing for Apollo, and a long day of solving Atlantean problems for Poseidon.

Suddenly, a gigantic wave about 25 feet high rose out of the swimming pool and crashed down on the two unsuspecting gods.

Apollo blinked some seaweed out of his eyes with a dazed look as Poseidon sputtered out sea water.

"W-what..." Apollo coughed, and he found a tiny piece of coral in his mouth; he shuddered in disgust.

They both looked towards the half-empty pool and saw Percy standing there with an uncertain, surprised look. Slowly, the boy began to grin, and soon enough, he couldn't contain his snigger. Poseidon dried himself, leaving Apollo dripping wet and jealous.

"PERCY!" the sun god finally roared, but slowly, a minuscule, almost unnoticeable grin tugged at his lips. The two gods were really impressed at the power that Percy displayed, even without that much rigorous practice yet. "COME HERE, YOU BRAT!"

Poseidon watched them chase each other around the pool and he smiled and continued to eat his chips.

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I am so sorry for the tiny chapter, but I just finished exams, and I swear, it'll get longer next time. And I'll update soon.

January 25, 2014


	6. Artemis

**Chapter 6 - Artemis**

It had been exactly 352 days since Percy had met Apollo, the god of the sun, awful poetry, and all those other godly stuff. Yes, Percy had counted, but he would never tell Mr. Sunny that, or else he'd never let it go, Percy had learned. He didn't mean to start counting, honestly; it had just ended up that way when he needed something to write down, something to remind him that there once was a Before and After.

Although practically eight months ago, Percy had still thought about it a lot. What had happened before his new life—before... all these demigod shenanigans. However, nowadays he had been focusing a lot more on his activities with his dad, and Apollo, and Hermes.

At the moment, he and Apollo were hunting in the famous Amazon rainforest, for reasons unknown to Percy. Of course, it was to help his training, but Percy knew enough to know that Apollo mostly always had an ulterior motive to his actions (unless he was playing a prank). But with no 'babes' in the middle of the rainforest (at least, Percy assumed there were none, because that would be really strange), why would Apollo want to come out here in the first place?

Percy had voiced this to the sun god, but all he got in reply was a smirk, a laugh, and a motion to continue to walk.

So there they were, bush-whacking through the forest, without so much as a trail to follow or a sign to read.

A wolf howled loudly in the distance and Percy shuddered in response. "Apollo!" he yelled.

"A little longer!" Apollo grunted.

So they _were _going somewhere! "A little longer until what?"

No response. Percy sighed in annoyance.

Finally, they reached upon a small natural clearing in the dense forest, and out of the blue, Apollo stopped and turned around. He whispered, "Whatever you do, do not make a sound; let's see how good you are at stealth."

Percy was utterly confused, but that didn't stop Apollo. He pointed to his right before slowly moving that way. The crouched and crawled, being careful to not step on any twigs. Finally, they reached an area where the land began to slope downhill, and Percy couldn't believe his eyes.

He silently freaked out. "Why are there girls in the middle of the Amazon forest?!" he demanded. Further down hill, there were a group of girls in silver clothing spread around in the forest, with bows in their hands. _Other demigods like him._

Apollo quietly snickered. "It's strange the kinds of things that worry you." As if he was bipolar, his expression became abruptly serious and calculating. "They're hunting for something. Do you see their defensive and cautious stance?"

Percy looked again and saw that Apollo was right. "We better be careful, then." He murmured under his breath.

"Shhh..." the sun god put a finger to his mouth in gesture, and pointed at the girls. Percy saw that quite a few of them were looking in his direction. A girl called out to the others and then they were all looking at Apollo and him.

Percy held his breath. Had they spotted them?

From his peripheral vision, he saw Apollo slowly lift his bow. He wasn't going to _fight _them, was he?!

Suddenly, a few of the girls notched their bows in a blink of an eye and let go, their arrows heading straight for them. Apollo audibly sighed before pushing Percy's head down. The arrows flew past their heads and hit something behind them.

Something hissed, and when Percy turned around, he saw a really pretty girl, except for the fact that she had a hairy donkey leg. Apollo tried to shake himself out of it, but couldn't help but stare. Without missing a beat, Percy knew this was a dangerous monster and sliced at her with his sword. His work was sloppy, but still did the job, and the monster burst into golden powder, but not before she managed to lunge at the both of them and push them off the slope.

Percy let out a yelp as they both tumbled down, twigs and stones knocking on them on the way down. When they finally stopped at the bottom, they looked up to see several girls staring disbelievingly at them, but before anybody could say or do anything, Apollo took his bow and shot something in a faraway tree, making it explode in a puff of golden powder.

"Now we're even..." he grumbled, before smirking again. "Hey, babes," he said, even though he was covered in mud, with twigs in his hair. These were not the babes Percy thought Apollo would be into. With a snap of his fingers, the sun god looked clean and squeaky again.

Percy gave him a jealous look, his own clothes dirty and his hair sticking up in all angles.

The scary group of girls shot Apollo a dirty look, but for different reasons. A girl of about twelve with auburn hair and silver clothes stepped toward Apollo and kicked him in the stomach, making him groan and curl up. Percy looked at her warily; she emanated a powerful aura, as powerful as Apollo.

"Sorry, Arty." Apollo grimaced sincerely, then grinned. "You're man-hating hunters are just so hot."

"Yuck," Percy made a face. The thought of girls didn't appeal to him yet. And then he realized something: Arty, man-hating hunters, powerful aura... "Lady Artemis," he breathed. The nerves started in him, and from all the stories he heard, he became worried that she would turn him into a hamster or something.

Everyone took the time to gape at him, Apollo for different reasons.

"You don't like girls?" the two Olympians raised their eyebrows.

"Where did I go wrong?" Apollo exclaimed morosely at the sky, as Artemis snorted in amusement, before kicking him again for being an idiot.

"Girls are gross," the son of Poseidon stated with a serious face.

A black-haired, somewhat bulky hunter in silver clothes about his age pushed him down again and then put a foot on his throat. "Say that again, I dare you, _boy._" She hissed menacingly, before whipping out her very sharp dagger. The other fifteen or so girls laughed and cheered, and Percy was beginning to dislike them. Were all girls like this, or something? He didn't meet many girls, but he didn't think he wanted to anyway.

"And scary." he added. He felt the foot beginning to crush his throat and he choked.

"Pheobe, let him go." Lady Artemis finally sighed, and he panted at the lack of oxygen in his lungs. The moon goddess looked at him carefully, examining his muddy clothes and messy black hair with a critical eye, before asking, "Who is this, Apollo? He can't be one of your kids, for sure."

"He's...well, he's..." Apollo scratched his head for a moment.

"Hi, my name's Percy." the son of Poseidon spoke up, choosing to clumsily bow quarter way, as Apollo had somewhat (not really) taught him.

"We only came to help... and well, can we talk somewhere, Arty?" the sun god eyed the girls uncomfortably, which Artemis noted was very unlike Apollo.

"Girls, pack up the campsite, I'll be right back. Zoe, you're in charge." Artemis ordered, and the girls grumbled a little but eventually dispersed.

"What are you doing, 'Pollo?" Percy gently tugged on Apollo's jacket, his own mud-sodden jacket squelching in the process.

Apollo pulled him off to the side, leaving Artemis tapping her feet impatiently.

"Look, we can hide you for the next few years of your life and you can save the world when the time comes, but Perce, Zeus is paranoid." Apollo held Percy's shoulders and looked at him carefully in the eyes. "He's going to want to get rid of any plausible threats to the throne, and we need as many gods and goddesses on our side as possible."

The son of Poseidon groaned in frustration. He was beginning to get tired of all this prophecy business. Why did it have to be him? He was only a kid; how was he ever going to save the world? And more importantly, why did anyone believe that someone like him was going to save everyone? He wouldn't even trust himself.

"My sister can be harsh sometimes, but I'm sure she'll do it for the good of Olympus."

"If all of this is for the good of Olympus, why is your father trying to kill me?" the son of Poseidon asked angrily.

"My father won't think it's good for Olympus, but it will be." Apollo insisted. "You're going to save us all."

"I can't! I can't save _anyone_." Percy spoke softly before he bent down on his knees and covered his face with his arms. All this pressure built up inside of him and for the first time in 256 days, he couldn't contain all his emotions anymore. Sobs wracked his body and he hated feeling weak in front of everyone, Apollo, Lady Artemis... but he couldn't help it. He didn't want anyone to take his place, but why did it have to be him?

Artemis watched at a distance as the little boy broke down, and she couldn't help but feel a sad pang in her heart, to see such a young boy cry so fiercely. She didn't know what her brother and he were saying but she had a sneaking suspicion about what they were talking about.

The hunters were standing nearby, already packed up and ready to go. They came in time to catch the scene, and did not refrain from making comments among themselves.

"_What a baby..."_

"_What'd Lord Apollo say to him? Probably something terrible."_

"_What's wrong with him, Kelly? Did you see?"_

"Girls," Artemis interrupted their chatter. "head to the nearest town, I will catch up with you as fast as I can. Zoe, take charge."

Zoe raised her eyebrows in question at her, but otherwise obeyed her instructions and led them away, through the thick forest.

The moon goddess watched as her brother picked up the boy and put him to his chest comfortingly. The boy wrapped his legs around Apollo and clung onto his neck like his life depended on it, while the god patted his back carefully.

Apollo's heart broke as he stared at the tiny boy in his arms. A boy who was so stubborn and blunt and impertinent and _infuriating_—gods, Apollo hated this kid so much, but he also loved him, like a brother would love another brother or a father would love a son.

"_It's not fair... It's not fair..."_ Percy would keep mumbling through his sniffles, and Apollo knew it wasn't, but nobody ever said the fates were nice to begin with. He continued to quietly whisper comforting nothings into the boy's ears, as he slowly nodded off to sleep.

"Brother, you wanted to say something to me?" Artemis quietly asked.

"I think you can guess," Apollo said in one of his rare sombre moments.

"I knew he looked familiar," she groaned. "Poseidon, I would not have guessed him."

"Yeah, dad always seemed to have the most odds, eh?" he said dryly. "Anyway, he needs your help."

"You know I'm not a big fan of boys." she deadpanned.

"I know. But this is for everyone. I just need you to give him a chance. Please. He might even turn out to be a guy that you'll like." A teasing note at the end.

To say Artemis was surprised that Apollo would ever plead would be an understatement. Well, plead as much as a god would. She looked at his desperate eyes and his usual smirking mouth, and sighed.

"We'll see what he turns out to be. But I'll try not to be biased because he's a boy."

Apollo let out a small laugh, and nodded in contentment. He was sure Percy would not disappoint Artemis.

Artemis looked down at Percy. "You should probably take him home."

"Ha, yeah. Poseidon's going to kill me. I take the kid out to train in the Amazons and now I'm coming back with his face all puffy red and his heart shattered." he joked around but worry still gnawed at him.

"Where does he live?" she asked curiously.

Apollo winked and put a finger to his smiling lips, before disappearing in a golden light. Artemis shook her head at his strange antics.

"I know you're just going to be like other men when you're older, but you're not half bad right now, for a boy." She whispered into the air, pitying the child, before a thought entered her mind that made her freeze. What if it was all a play and this was just a trick to get her sympathy? Did he know that she would go easy on Percy if she saw him cry? She wasn't quite sure anymore but there was one thing she knew; she didn't like being predicted. The moon goddess whipped a knife into the air in frustration before running off to catch up with her girls, and all the while, she tried to decide the sincerity of her brother.

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Thanks for reading, review if you liked it :)

January 29, 2014


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